Best Strawberry Cupcakes EVER

Tried and tested, this is the best strawberry cupcakes recipe! Banish mushy cupcakes and read on for the secret to perfect strawberry buttercream frosting.

The internet is full of bad recipes for strawberry cupcakes. This watery fruit is a tricky one to bake with as it releases all that water into your cake or cupcake making it totally mushy. Most of the recipes out there are either soggy because of this or they skip the real strawberries altogether and use some variation of strawberry extract or flavoring.

Read on for the best strawberry cupcake recipe…

I have a vanilla cupcake recipe that is literally the best one I’ve ever eaten. I like to adapt it when I can and not invent an entirely different recipe from scratch. For this recipe, I challenged myself to adapt my perfect vanilla cupcake into a strawberry cupcake that avoided all the pitfalls of all those versions already out there. I wanted to keep the texture and crumb of the cupcake I love, but have a real strawberry flavor without extracts or additives.

It wasn’t an easy task, but I (humbly) think I nailed it!

Creating the Best Strawberry Cupcakes, aka ‘The Struggle’

I made six batches of strawberry cupcakes before settling on the final version. The reason all those bad cupcakes exist out there is because there is no easy solution! Here’s what went wrong and what finally went oh so right…

Attempt 1: Cupcakes with Chopped Fresh Strawberries.

The cupcakes overall were good but not great. They had a strong strawberry flavor, but especially with bigger strawberry pieces they baked with soggy spots scattered throughout the vanilla cupcake (see arrow).

Attempt 2: Cupcakes with Minced Fresh Strawberries.

I hoped that smaller strawberry pieces would mean less soggy spots. Unfortunately this one just had a huge soggy spot at the bottom where all the small pieces settled together during baking.

Attempt 3: Cupcakes with Freeze Dried Strawberries

Freeze-dried strawberries are so great in frosting, I thought it would be worth a try to include them in the actual recipe. This was a miserable failure. All of the pieces floated to the top and had a gummy texture when cooked. They almost tasted like fruit snacks.

Attempt 4: Cupcakes with Smaller Freeze-Dried Strawberries

Given the large pieces of freeze-dried strawberries all floated to the top, I tried again with smaller pieces. I had the same result as the first time unfortunately. The layer of freeze-dried strawberries at the top was a definitely fail.

Attempt 5: Cupcakes with Fresh Roasted Strawberries.

My last hope was roasting the strawberries to try to remove some of the water prior to adding them to the cupcakes. This was far and away the best version.

As you can see, the strawberries were scattered throughout and there weren’t any soggy spots. The cupcake itself is nice and crumbly but still moist. I’m in love!

Even though it’s a pain to roast the strawberries first, it’s definitely worth the extra step. These cupcakes were packed with strawberry flavor and not at all mushy. The secret is mixing in enough strawberries so they won’t settle during baking and just be on the bottom of the cupcake. You also have to blot the strawberries after baking to remove excess moisture. Moisture = the enemy!

Why This is the BEST Strawberry Cupcake Recipe:

Freeze dried strawberries give a huge punch of strawberry flavor to the frosting without watering down the buttercream texture

They also make the strawberry frosting a natural pink color.

The vanilla cupcake is moist and soft with a perfect crumb.

The cupcakes are made with fresh strawberries and have no gelatin, strawberry extract or fake strawberry flavoring.

The cupcakes aren’t soggy thanks to roasting the strawberries before mixing them into the batter.

Thanks so much for reading! For more Sweet in your life, you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube, or subscribe to receive a weekly email with new posts and musings from me.

Special Equipment

Instructions

Make the vanilla cupcakes:

Start by roasting the strawberries. Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit. Coarsely chop the strawberries and place them in an oven safe baking dish. Roast the strawberries for 30-40 minutes, until they are very soft and release their juices.

Transfer strawberries to a paper towel-lined plate to cool.

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

Combine the cake flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat in the butter on medium low. The mixture should resemble coarse sand. Beat in the sugar on low.

Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and milk. Mix until just combined.

Use a paper towel to blot excess moisture from the roasted strawberries. Scrape them off the paper towel and stir into the cupcake batter.

Using an ice cream scoop or a spoon, fill cupcake liners with batter until they are 2/3 full.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely before frosting.

Make the Strawberry Buttercream Frosting:

Pulse freeze dried strawberries in a food processor until powdery. Sift through a fine mesh strainer to remove lumps and seeds. Set aside.

Bring a medium pot filled with one inch of simmering water to a boil. Place the egg whites and sugar in a stainless-steel bowl (like a stand mixer bowl) and place on saucepan. Use a whisk to beat the mixture until very hot (about 160° Fahrenheit).

Remove from heat and mix with the whisk attachment on high until it is cool, thick and glossy and has tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.

Reduce speed to medium and add butter a few pieces at a time. Add the vanilla and continue to beat until smooth and fluffy.*

Beat in the freeze dried strawberry powder.

Make the glazed strawberries:

Slice 7-8 strawberries in half lengthwise (depending on the number of cupcakes you make). Remove stems from and coarsely chop the remaining strawberries in the pint.

Dissolve cornstarch in water in a small bowl.

Bring sugar and lemon juice to a boil in a small saucepan and stir until dissolved. Stir in chopped berries only. Add cornstarch mixture and stir until it thickens.

Drain mixture into a small glass leaving chopped berries in the pan. Dip the halved strawberries into strawberry glaze mixture and use a pastry brush to coat thoroughly. Arrange on a plate lined with a paper towel to drain.

Notes

*Notes on Making & Troubleshooting Buttercream Frosting: If the frosting is too soft and doesn’t seem to be coming together, it’s possible that it’s too warm. You could try popping it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes and then re-mixing with the paddle attachment in your electric mixer until it comes together and is smooth and satiny. In general it’s hard to over-whip buttercream, so I would err on the side of mixing it longer to see if you can salvage it, even as long as 15 minutes!

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Comments

I want to try this recipe but it only says 1 package strawberries, not the size of the package. Our packages are 1 pound size, but if yours are a different size the recipe will be messed up. Can you please clarify the package size? Thank you!